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Seat Suggestion -help required

by macrophotofly
Thu, May 07, 2015 06:26
10

Seats are personal things, I know - I seem to have tried a lot of test seats recently and I now know what I like, but I would be grateful for the help finding it....
Question 1 : Does anyone know something similar to the Specialized Romin (143mm) but with a (more) narrow nose?
Question 2 : Do the new more expensive Arione's or Aliante's (e.g. R3) have different padding than the Classic, leading to less pressure on perinium?

Here's the background
My Sit bones are 11.5cm apart, I'm around 67kg, cycle with a narrow Q and despite being in my early 40's I am fairly flexible and have large thigh muscles. I tend to do mainly rides for 4-8 hours and I'm often climbing.
- Fizik Aliante Gamma shape slightly more comfortable to sit bones than the Arione Classic but both cause pressure on my nether regions. VS version didn't seem to resolve it
- Prologo Scratch is a comfortable shape but worse perineum issues.
- Prologo Nago (semi-round side-to-side) lifted the nether regions enough to avoid the issue but was too flat for my sitbones and too wide for my legs when they were at the bottom of the pedal stroke
- Similar problems found with a couple other seats that are flat side-to-side (eg Fizik Antares or Ergon SR3)
- Specialized Romin Expert Gel in smallest 143mm width- best comfort of all and the cut out was perfect, however my thighs rubbed badly against the nose of the saddle because it is too wide
- Selle Italia SLR Flow (I'm an S2 or S3 in their fit) - I'd descibe this as the barely acceptable middle ground. Comfortable for the first 4 hours, no thigh rub, less pressure underneath, but becomes slowly more uncomfortable in all three areas on longer rides 102 If I just rode for 1-4 hours at a time this seat would be fine (note : I did not like the Selle Italia Flite - felt like my weight was on the two edges of the cut-out rather than sit-bones)

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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10 comments

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macrophotofly | 9 years ago
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The Romin Evo was a fail (I'm giving each of these seats a 100km ride). I don't really understand why it feels so different to the Romin Expert. I kept changing the seat angle to check it wasn't that, but sadly it seems the combination of thicker/softer foam and potentially the base being made from a different material, just doen't suit my sit bones. Nose width was great and no pressure underneathmade the "fail" more annoying
My search continues.

BTW - I would love to go the ebay route, but being based in Japan makes it a more tricky prospect (both from convincing the seller to send abroad and then when coming to sell, being able to not upset the buyer when the item takes 8 days to arrive by post)

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Tjuice | 9 years ago
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I bought a second hand San Marco Mantra on ebay so that I could try it out without the massive cash outlay. And the second one I then safely bought new.

Advantage of above approach is that you can usually re-sell for approx the same purchase cost if it doesn't suit.

Trying saddle briefly in store is absolutely no substitute for spending some hours on it. I have ridden on a number of saddles that felt perfectly comfortable for the first hour, but then started to cause numbness or other issues beyond that.

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Shep73 replied to Tjuice | 9 years ago
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Tjuice wrote:

I bought a second hand San Marco Mantra on ebay so that I could try it out without the massive cash outlay. And the second one I then safely bought new.

Advantage of above approach is that you can usually re-sell for approx the same purchase cost if it doesn't suit.

Trying saddle briefly in store is absolutely no substitute for spending some hours on it. I have ridden on a number of saddles that felt perfectly comfortable for the first hour, but then started to cause numbness or other issues beyond that.

Specialized have a very good returns policy of 30 days days. Thankfully my LBS has also let me go over that that. I'll be happy when I can get to 1.5 hours before getting any pain on my rollers.

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fukawitribe replied to Tjuice | 9 years ago
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Tjuice wrote:

I bought a second hand San Marco Mantra on ebay so that I could try it out without the massive cash outlay. And the second one I then safely bought new.

Advantage of above approach is that you can usually re-sell for approx the same purchase cost if it doesn't suit.

The Saddle Swap over on BikeRadar is also worth a look (both sales and swaps) for the same reason.

Avatar
Shep73 | 9 years ago
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I've tried the Romin evo and it hurt my perineum. Found the normal Romin to be a little more forgiving. I'm going to look at the SMP and Adamo ranges myself.

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macrophotofly | 9 years ago
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Many thanks for the help.
@Scowel - Didn't realise the Evo was slightly narrower!
@Tjuice and Pirnie - Sadly the Adamo doesn't suit me - too wide on the front and as I do a lot more climbing than TT, I tend to be back on the seat
@fukawitribe - The article was very interesting and helped immediately narrowed my search in the SMP Selles down to, initally, the Dynamic

Just popped back to the shop. They have Selle SMP's for sale 4 but not any to try 20 I managed to get to sit on one stationary (in my biz suit) and it seemed pretty good, but at nearly 180 squid (they just had a carbon railed Dynamic and even when they have a metal one in stock its 120) I couldn't risk it. I did however borrow a Romin Evo so I'll be riding that tomorrow to see how it is. Padding seems a little OTT, but I'll report back how it goes.

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Scowel | 9 years ago
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Have you thought about the Romin Evo? like the Romin but with a narrower nose I think

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Tjuice | 9 years ago
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You're right - very personal. Can't provide better advice, but I can throw another possibility or two into the ring:

1) Might be worth you looking at the Selle San Marco Mantra.
2) Have you considered the Adamo saddles?

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fukawitribe replied to Tjuice | 9 years ago
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Tjuice wrote:

You're right - very personal. Can't provide better advice, but I can throw another possibility or two into the ring:

1) Might be worth you looking at the Selle San Marco Mantra.
2) Have you considered the Adamo saddles?

..also might be worth considering some of the mid- to high-end SMP saddles - very good on perineal relief, slimmer noses on some models (whether they'd be slim enough i'm not sure). Definitely worth a try, especially if you liked the shape of the Aliante. More general info on them from fit guru Steve Hogg here...

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bikefit/2011/09/all-about-smps/

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pirnie replied to fukawitribe | 9 years ago
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fukawitribe wrote:
Tjuice wrote:

You're right - very personal. Can't provide better advice, but I can throw another possibility or two into the ring:

1) Might be worth you looking at the Selle San Marco Mantra.
2) Have you considered the Adamo saddles?

..also might be worth considering some of the mid- to high-end SMP saddles - very good on perineal relief, slimmer noses on some models (whether they'd be slim enough i'm not sure). Definitely worth a try, especially if you liked the shape of the Aliante. More general info on them from fit guru Steve Hogg here...

http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bikefit/2011/09/all-about-smps/

I've had problems with pressure in the past and would definitely recommend an Adamo to fix that part of your problem. However, most of the models are very wide, wider than the Romin (I use a Prologue so can only speak for that model really). So you could look at the narrower Adamo saddles, e.g. the attack? or failing that the recommendation of SMP above could suit, as they're definitely narrower.

Hope you find a comfortable saddle!

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